Manual Aiming Guide (02/2015)

Foreword

Advantages and Disadvantages

How to Manual Aim

Exploiting the Auto Player

Final Remarks

Foreword

I have been using Manual aiming ever since the beginning of NF2. I have tried Auto a few times, and do agree that it is the easier option; however, we should strive to be the best we can be. I have yet to like auto; nor will I ever, even with the latest buff to auto. Below is an example of me in my Porter using manual. Note the number of shells left at the bottom and the attack on the top right.

With Manual, I have one shot many ships, ranging from SSs all the way to BBs; one shot being a single salvo with the enemy ship at full health. My personal best is 4 shots 4 kills in a row. My hope is that by the time you finish reading this guide, you will be convinced that Manual aiming is the way to go.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Auto Advantages

  - Guaranteed to hit target, not considering spread or failure to properly lead a target

  - Easier to utilize the secondary and tertiary guns

  - Easier play when task saturated

Auto Disadvantages

  - Slower angle changes

  - Slower turret speed

  - Nearly impossible to AA planes not at Max Altitude (i.e. TBs)

Manual Advantages

  - Can cross lines (thus slightly better spread and more shells on target)

  - Can changes angles faster

  - Can move turrets to opposite side of ship faster

  - Can AA planes at all angles

  - 10% Buff to ACC and RLD

When mastered, there are no disadvantages to Manual, other than human factors.

Consider the following:

Manual aiming a close/small target

Auto aiming a close/small target

These situations happen more often than not, and especially when that pesky DD or SS shows up. Realize with Manual, you can easily target that DD and one shot him even if your guns were at max angle before you saw him. With auto, you'll have to either gradual or switch between front and rear turrets. That DD or SS may be gone by the time you're able to get that figured out, not to mention the time it takes your angles to get to 0 from, say 45 in the North Carolina.

How to Manual Aim

Note: Strategies discussed will focus primarily on the BB player, though they do apply to all ships

Default Hotkeys:

F/V – speed up/slow down

G – switch views between ship and where last shells landed (reason why I shoot at battle start at max angle)

W/S – angle up/angle down

Q/E – counter turn turrets

A/D – turn turrets left and right

Shift – super fine tune turret turn speed and angle change speed

Ctrl – Turn Turret Drive Assist (TDA) on/off; turn on for faster adjustments

Space – Fire Shells

X – switch between gradual and salvo

Z – switch between HE/AP shells

C – switch between front and back turrets

B – straighten ship

L – raise planes

, – lower planes

1 – primary guns

2 – secondary guns

3 – tertiary guns

4 – torpedoes

5 – mines/depth charges

6 – sonar

At battle start, I would recommend zooming all the way out then turning on TDA and pressing Q or E to get your turrets to up, where you will fire your first salvo. Doing so will allow you to use the G function, which is very important in maintaining your situational awareness (SA). Caution: watch for ships crossing you when you do this. It does, however, make for a nice excuse when someone you don’t like crosses you. Once you’re done, turn north or south and turn your turrets toward the enemy. Send out your scout if you haven’t already. Press F1 to select, press up arrow, press ready, then take off and send to the enemy; press ‘ , ‘ to lower the planes slightly. If you double tap F1, your screen view will go to where your plane is. Press G to go back to your ship. Switch between all these to maintain your SA as well as clicking around the map.

As you’re sailing along, you’ll eventually find a big ship. As a BB, he’s your first target, unless you really want to go for that DD coming in, and I would, if he’s an IJN tier X DD within my 8 deg range. Those things hurt. Press Z to switch to Armor Piercing (AP) and fire your first shot at him. Note: if he’s moving fast, he’s probably not armored, so use High Explosive (HE) on him. He should be at max range if you scouted properly. Your angles are already at max range. Don’t forget to lead him, which for a BB will be about an inch in front of the direction he’s going. If he’s not at max range (remember that first shot you took?), press S to lower your angle.

NF2 assumes that your shells lack momentum and/or the air resistance (drag) is very high. Consider tossing a paper ball versus a baseball. NF2 shells are more like that paper ball, and as such, your lower angles will be far more sensitive than your upper angles, For example, in the New Mexico, the max angle is 30 deg. If you take it down to 25 deg, you will shoot an inch shorter (when zoomed fully out). If you’re at 5 deg, you will shoot just outside your field of vision where 0 deg will shoot most things next to you (most SS you’ll have to be farther away).

Let’s go back to that first shot. You have your scout out there, you see him just sitting there, clueless to what will soon be upon him. He failed at proper scouting, you did not. You come in at about a 10 deg angle to him, you fire. Now press G to look back at you ship. Turn back away. Press B once you’ve significantly changed your direction (45 deg change away). Press G again and see whether or not you hit. Take a mental note and correct for your next shot. Press Z to switch to High Explosive (HE). Set your angle; aim, and shoot. Press G to go back to your ship and change ship direction again. Press G to see your shells hit. Rinse and repeat. Think this in your head: Aim, Shoot, Steer; Aim, Shoot, Steer. When you get really good, you can time yourself to the enemy’s shots. When his shells are about to land, you want to be at about a 45 deg angle from him, though ideally 90 deg. This will minimize the number of shells that hit you. When you yourself fire, you want to be fully broadside.

TECHNIQUE: Angle your ship at a 45 deg angle from him when first learning or when having bad spread to increase the chance of hitting the enemy.

Let’s look at a few cases. These cases assume your enemy is driving in a straight line. You’ll have to combine these techniques to truly be the best.

Case 1: The Ideal

You meet your foe, and you’re both sailing side by side. You both fire at the same time. He keeps going straight. But, as soon as you fired, you overheated (press F again) and ran. You hit, he misses.

Case 2: The Chase

The worst situation you can be in. He has more range than you, thus you need to be inside your max range when you fire to hit him. Avoid this situation. But if you must, turn into him when he’s firing to prevent as many hits on you.

Case 3: The Run

Not the ideal case, since your shells will not all land on him, however, if you are faster than him, he cannot hit you. Only turn directly away from him if you are still within his range, or if you really need to get away.

Every situation will be a combination of those three cases, unless your foe is truly an idiot. You’ll have to adapt to the situation. Utilizing the G function is extremely important in maintaining your SA. Not only will you be able to steer your ship, you can also react to what your foe is doing. But let’s say during the ideal situation, you press G and look at your ship to turn away, and you see a DD coming in. He’s on the opposite side of your ship. His torps can kill you (that IJN Tier X DD you didn’t kill earlier?) Disengage. Turn yourself to keep your side to the DD’s bow to prevent him from getting a good torp run. Press Q or E and ctrl to get your turrets to the other side, fast! Lower your angle to 2 deg, or 1 if you really let him get close. Shoot. Under normal situations, you’ll kill him in one shot.

TECHNIQUE: when you reach 3 or 4 deg, turn off the TDA and press and use shift for fine tuning. Don’t hold shift too long. You cannot steer your ship, speed up, or slow down, when shift is held down, or any other key. Turn TDA back on once you get your angle, particularly for those pesky fast DDs.

You’re happy, you just one shot a ship for the first time. But then, you notice TBs coming from the north. They’re already at minimum altitude, ready to drop. Turn away from those TBs, or if they’re close, into them (dud the torps). But let’s say they’re far away and you decide to turn away. Press 3 (varies by ship) to select your AA gun. Lower to 2 deg. Turn on that TDA. Aim in front of the planes, and fire. If they’re close, use 3 deg. If they’re on you, go 7 or 8 deg.

But today’s not your day. DBs are now coming. Let’s say you’re US and using the 5” guns. Set your angle to 30 deg and start shooting. Crosscheck to make sure that TDA is still on. Raise the angle as they get closer. Once they are over your ship, pause. Let all your guns reload while getting your angle to 85 deg. As the DBs begin their dive, spam all your shells on him. Alternate both sides of your ship for max AA. And in this case, you did well. You killed them all before they could drop their bombs.

TECHNIQUE: use gradual (press x) to increase your chance of hitting the planes. Switch to salvo when you become a master.

The golden angle for the US 5” guns is 30 deg, for max range. You’ll have to learn that max range from experience. Raise it as they get closer. Your lower angles are 2 to 3. For those in between, take an educated guess; and that guess will get better over time. You’ll still be doing better than those Auto aimers as they have an extremely hard time with planes under maximum altitude.

Map Position and Aiming

Again, with NF2 physics, you'll notice that in certain positions on the map, your range may be higher or lower. Currently, I have noticed a Western and Southern advantage, where you'll have a slightly higher range if you are shooting from the West or South. Also, if you are in the East or the North, you will have to add about an extra degree to whatever angle it normally is.

Exploiting the Auto Player

Where Manual really shines is up close against smaller ships. You can cross your guns, which means you can one shot nearly anything. However, there is the case of the enemy BB player. Ideally, stay at max range. However, if you find yourself in this situation:

Keep charging and go through him. Force him to have to change his turrets to the other side. Yours will get there within 3 seconds. His will take double to triple that time. Or, if you do it right, you won’t have to do that at all.

The other way is to keep broad side to his bow, as shown:

This works against all users, both Manual and Aiming. Thus, it behooves you to have a setup that favors speed and maneuverability (I go 31/37 in my New Mexico with one belt).

If your ship is fast enough (DD), you can get inside your Auto player so fast that he can’t change his angles fast enough. He also can’t hit you with all his shells, unless he switches between front and rear turrets. If that is the case, you’ll have to zigzag profusely and hope to get on the other side of him.

Final Remarks

Learning this aiming system is difficult. It will take you weeks. You will have hard times. You will have great times. Resist that urge to go back to Auto. Hell, it took me a couple weeks to figure out the North Carolina when I got it. And I still miss, sometimes. But, when I master it…

Consider this: you are able to aim and hit any target you want with the first shot. If they are close enough, you can hit them with all your shells. You nearly one shot everything. If they are at max range, you hit them with nearly all of your shells. Every salvo you do is 30k+ damage. (My most is 60k in 1 salvo). Every plane that comes in, you hit, no matter the altitude. Of course, this is the ideal ship. The ship that you’ve spent hundreds of dollars on. Your crew is maxed out. Your ACC ability is maxed. You block shot.

Manual aim is your last step to becoming unstoppable.